Where do female bodybuidlers come from? The guys tend to be former or injured high school football players, wrestlers, powerlifters (or some similar athlete) who suffer an injury that makes it impossible for them to continue in the original sport. They hit the weights to recover or build strength and get a bodybuilding bug. Is there a similar factory for female bodybuilders? Are they former gymnasts? Cheerleaders? What is the typical path that leads women to become bodybuilders?

And at what age does this happen for women? The guys seem to take to BB in the late teens but women seem to turn to bodybuilding slightly later. Why is that? Anyone have thoughts on this?

This surprises me since the extreme dieting, training, and supplementation required is not something I see a lot of woman easily being drawn into by someone else, if she weren't already very athletically inclined.

I think there are alot of answers to those questions. For me, it was 12+ years of competitive gymnastics. I joined my first Gold's Gym when I was 15 years old and never really took a break after that. I got bored of training the same way and looking the same all the time, and I was looking for a competitive outlet as an adult. I got into the bench press competitions before I really got in to BB. When I turned 30, someone in the bizness taught me how to diet and how I could completely change the way I looked by what I ate.

I'm an ex fatty and I had an eating disorder. Not that I count as a "bodybuilder" by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm lumping figure into the lot. Getting active and having a balanced, directed meal plan helped me work through a lot of emotional distress and body issues.